1. MAHATMA GANDHI’S VISION OF A MODEL VILLAGE

Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of rural development revolves around creating model villages for transforming ‘swaraj’ into ‘su-raj’
His vision of an ideal village, in his own words:

An ideal Indian village will be so constructed as to lend itself to perfect sanitation. It will have cottages with sufficient light and ventilation built of a material obtainable within a radius of five miles of it………………..The village lanes and streets will be free of all avoidable dust. It will have wells according to its needs and accessible to all. It will have houses of worship for all; also a common meeting place, a village common for grazing its cattle, a co-operative dairy, primary and secondary schools in which industrial education will be the central fact, and it will have panchayats for settling disputes. It will produce its own grains, vegetables and fruit, and its own khadi. This is roughly my idea of a model village. (Harijan, 9-1-1937; Vol. 64#: Pg. 217-18.)

That village may be regarded as reformed…where the largest possible number of village industries are flourishing, in which nobody is illiterate, where the roads are clean, there is a fixed place for evacuation, the wells are clean, there is harmony among the different communities, and untouchability is completely absent, in which everybody gets cow’s milk, ghee etc., in moderate quantities, in which nobody is without work, and which is free from quarrels and thefts… (Letter to Munnalal Shah, 4-4-1941; Vol. 73#: Pg. 421)

“My idea of village swaraj is that it is a complete republic, independent of its neighbours for its own vital wants, and yet interdependent for many others in which dependence is a necessity. Thus every village’s first concern will be to grow its own food crops and cotton for its cloth. It should have a reserve for its cattle, recreation and playground for adults and children. Then if there is more land available, it will grow useful money crops, thus excluding ganja, tobacco, opium and the like. The village will maintain a village theatre, school and public hall. It will have its own waterworks, ensuring clean water supply. This can be done through controlled wells or tanks. Education will be compulsory up to the final basic course. As far as possible every activity will be conducted on the cooperative basis. There will be no castes such as we have today with their graded untouchability. (Harijan, 26-7-1942; Vol. 76#: Pg. 308-9.)

The task before every lover of the country is how to .. reconstruct the villages of India so that it may be as easy for any-one to live in them as it is supposed to be in the cities. Harijan, 7–3–1936